faithcover

In A Broken World

God gave Adam an invitation to partake of the Tree of Life.

God never intended for us to live this life in our own strength and by our own abilities.  He wants to return us to "normal," the original blueprint for mankind.  In the Garden of Eden he gave Adam everything he needed to live abundantly.  God even gave Adam dominion over the earth and all animals and plants.  He gave Adam a "family business," the Garden to tend.

Adam's primary responsibility was to maintain intimacy with God, listen to His Word daily, represented by the Tree of Life, obey Him and carry out His commands.  Satan convinced Adam and Eve to live by their own intellect and also convinced them that listening to God's Word on a regular basis was not necessary.  He convinced them the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, their own intellect, was good enough without God's Word.

Returning to "normal" for us means maintaining an intimacy with Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit all throughout the day and night.  As we hear Him speak, faith is planted in our hearts as a seed, and if properly maintained, will bear fruit in our lives.  The fruit is more than enough for everything we need for life, godliness and for expanding God's Kingdom on this earth.

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Table of Contents

Prologue - Scroll down

Chapter 1 - An Overview

Chapter 2 - The Ingredient of Endurance

Chapter 3 - Running The Race

Chapter 4 - The Ingredient of Love

Chapter 5 - The Ingredient of Works

Chapter 6 - The Ingredient of Speaking The Word

Chapter 7 - More Ingredients From Peter

Chapter 8 - Faith - Parable of the Sower

Chapter 9 - Hearing God's Voice

Appendix F

Living By Faith

In A Broken World

by Larry Chkoreff

Version 1.2 December 2008

ISBN – 978-0-9823060-0-0

Living By Faith In A Broken World is published by and is a discipleship curriculum of the International School of The Bible

Marietta, GA

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Copyright © 2008 by Larry Chkoreff

Published by International School of the Bible, Marietta, Georgia, U.S.A.

All rights reserved. This book is the sole property of the author. It may not be reproduced, altered, or transmitted in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author. Any unauthorized reproduction, alteration, transmission, or printing of this book, or any material contained in this book, is strictly prohibited. Permission to reproduce, alter, transmit, print or reprint this book, or any materials contained in this book, may be requested at the above email address.  Any reference to the materials, ideas, or direct quotations taken from this book must be cited appropriately to this published edition.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the NKJV of the Bible.  Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, publishers.  Used by permission.

Prologue

In A Broken World

God gave Adam an invitation to partake of the Tree of Life.

God never intended for us to live this life in our own strength and by our own abilities.  He wants to return us to "normal," the original blueprint for mankind.  In the Garden of Eden he gave Adam everything he needed to live abundantly.  God even gave Adam dominion over the earth and all animals and plants.  He gave Adam a "family business," the Garden to tend.

Adam's primary responsibility was to maintain intimacy with God, listen to His Word daily, represented by the Tree of Life, obey Him and carry out His commands.  Satan convinced Adam and Eve to live by their own intellect and also convinced them that listening to God's Word on a regular basis was not necessary.  He convinced them the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, their own intellect, was good enough without God's Word.

Returning to "normal" for us means maintaining an intimacy with Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit all throughout the day and night.  As we hear Him speak, faith is planted in our hearts as a seed, and if properly maintained, will bear fruit in our lives.  The fruit is more than enough for everything we need for life, godliness and for expanding God's Kingdom on this earth.

"Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10:38).  This Scripture means that those who have found their righteousness in the finished work of Jesus Christ by His death and resurrection, shall sustain their very lives by faith, i.e., by hearing God speak and allowing His fruit to be manifested in their lives.

Go ahead, take some risks and return to "normal."  It will lead you to the abundant life as Jesus described it.  Then when you get to Heaven you will hear, "Well done."

The Lord is our Shepherd.

Shepherds take care of their sheep not primarily because they love them as a pet dog or cat, but because the sheep represent profit to them.  That is a shepherd's occupation, his business.  He may, as a by-product of his primary goal of earning a living, love the sheep and wish to lovingly care for them.  However, I do not believe that most shepherds would risk their lives day and night among lions and wolves just to love the sheep as pets.  Landlords in old England provided peasants with a tract of land to farm.  Their primary interest was to make a profit on the crops.  The by-product was that the peasants had somewhere to live and something to eat as long as they served their lord for his purposes.

So it is with Jesus our Lord. Is Jesus your king?

He is our Shepherd so that He may gain His profit from our lives.  What is that profit?  To love us and others to whom He will be gloried through us.  John 15 says that when we bear much fruit that it glorifies Jesus.  Fruit is borne through faith in God and especially in His Word as we become intimate with Him.  Glorify means to come out of obscurity into the light, to be made manifest.

Jesus' love for us is far beyond what the human mind could think of as "profit" for Himself.  His profit includes your well-being because you are part of His bride.  That is totally unlike the relationship between the natural shepherd and his sheep.

I am convinced that you will not be unable to see the spiritual mysteries contained in the Bible and in this book, unless and until you make Jesus your King.  There is a spiritual law that hides God's wonderful mysteries from those who continue to be "king" of their own lives.  When you are desperate enough to make the Lord your Shepherd, or in other words, Jesus your King, then He will reveal to you His fullness, His love, His care for you, and you will partake of the most wonderful blessing that life has to offer!

We encourage you to keep these words in mind as you go through this book.  We encourage you to stay away from "selfish and self-centered faith" as some teach.  I am just as passionate, and even more, than some of the off balanced teachers of faith.  But my passion is pleasing God and furthering His purposes and not my selfish desires through faith.